beaverface

I think the drop in crowds, to probably the lowest they ever got during the 90's and beyond told it's own story on how Osman was rated. I'm pretty sure he's the only player I've heard boo'ed when he scored also, such was the strength of feeling after he let Jackie go.

Weirdly, this link doesn't have Brian Mitchell in the squad at that time... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991–92_Bristol_City_F.C._season

I was there at the old Den when Ray Atteveld scored that amazing volleyed own goal. Even when losing that game, I still felt that we'd get back into it because the the strike force we had that day just seemed to cut through Millwall like a hot knife through butter. I'm pretty sure that we had Cole, Rosenior, Jackie and Allison that day. Pretty much a lethal combination as you had the pace, the power, the skills, the finishing and the heading ability (Rosenior was immense in the air). I don't think we've had such an amazing front line since that day. As someone else mentioned, the likes of Gus Caesar in defence didn't do us any good. edit: I just googled the squad from that year. Jeeze, what a strike force we had that season. We also had Bob Taylor, Nicky Morgan, Terry Connor, and not to mention the wingers, with Donowa, Smith, Gavin, Junior Bent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991–92_Bristol_City_F.C._season We must have been so close to getting that right. edit2: Personally I also thought at the time that Denis Smith was let go too early.

Seemed to me, that during the 80's, 90's, and early 2000s, the songs remained pretty similar all the time, and most people knew and joined in with them. You can pretty much guarantee that the only song that everyone will join in with now, is when the pressure is building up for us to score and the whole ground belts out "come on you reds". At some point, and I don't know if it was influence of trying to be like the European Ultras, or whether we just want to be seen as different, a number of new songs have been introduced that a fair few of our fans just don't know. For example, there's a song currently being sung with the words (or words to the effect) of "don't go out tonight unless your red and white..." - or something along those lines..........I've no idea about the rest of the lyrics. Then theres the other end of the scale where theres the most depressing chant, along the lines of "Ooooooh Bristol City, lala la la, oooo, lala la la oooo" over and over again. It's really flat and uninspiring. I sit in the middle of the South Stand, and believe it or not, songs do start off from there, but when they get to the singing section, I never hear the singing section joining in with them. Whether that's because they're currently wrapped up in their own songs I've no idea. It just seems to me that section is trying too hard to be different. I've no problem with the singing section and there atmosphere, they give it a good go, it just doesn't fit in with the rest of our fans.

Let's be honest, SL was never going to be out of pocket whether AG or AV was developed. AV stadium = Ashton Gate sold to Sainsburys for millions AG stadium = Ashton Vale has hundreds of homes built on it making millions.

Another way of looking at it is... He has 2years+1year contract left, and we're being offered £3million. Basically, worst case scenario, if we keep him, it's costing us £1million per season to have a player of his ability. If he continues in a similar vein of form next season, he's probably still going to be worth £3million this time next year with 2 years contract left, so we're still in credit. Whereas if he blossoms, we've had a season of great performances, and his value would've rocketed also. The flip side to this, is that he completely becomes useless and there no value left in him, in which case, we would've lost £3million. Not quite sure of my point entirely, but I think I'm saying it's probably worth keeping him for another season, but I suppose the crux of the matter, is whether we need that £3million to spend right now.

Are they still paying Graham Coughlan off? Wouldn't surprise me if he ended up back there.

He was also in some super natural drama filmed in Bristol also wasnt he?

This ^^^ I'm don't understand that either. A football stadium would be in use for regular larger sized crowds compared to a concert venue, and I would suspect the football club would probably want a slice of the cake for putting on their own concerts also, so it's bit hypocritical to turn one down in favour of the other??!

I'm currently reading a book about City's all time record cap holder for England - Billy Wedlock - and it's quite an eye opener to hear that back in the late 1890's, Bedminster and Bristol City(formally Bristol South End) we're major rivals, and yet they wanted to move forward and become a powerhouse in footballing terms, and so amalgamated. Similar circumstances to what you're describing as there was a strong rivalry between the two, and pretty much all of the assets from one club was used compared to the other, the exception being the two grounds, whereby the newly merged club shared grounds between Ashton Gate and St Johns lane before eventually settling on Ashton Gate. I guess, if we want Bristol to be a big player within the country, then a Bristol United would (with emotion set aside) be the best way for the entire city to get behind one club. Personally, I'd miss the intense rivalry as there's no other game that comes close to a Bristol derby, but in my eyes, if I was to look at it objectively - a merger would be way forward to giving the WHOLE city the impetus it needs. Fundamentally, you'd need to ask yourself why you watch football? Is it to win trophies, or is it because of the historical meaning of having generations of family supporting and following your club. My family all hailed from Bedminster and so City is my club, however I now live in Kingswood, and we know there are supporters of (any) club that are spread throughout the entire Country, if not the World. I know fans who sit next to me at Ashton Gate who are from Oxford, Southampton, and I have one friend who lives in New York and attends whenever he's back. Football has changed now from being a locally supported club, to being a global commodity. It appears to me, that if people want an intimate part of football, then following amateur grass roots football is probably the better alternative these days, which kind of harks back to what City, Rovers and other clubs used to be like until the money came in and made it a global sport. Proof of the pudding being, how many clubs are now owned by local businesses in the community - pretty much a majority of the top 40 clubs are owned by nobody with any affiliation to the clubs locality.

Pretty much agree with this. I do wonder whether there should be something to put into law whereby you cannot be offended on someone elses behalf. Basically, it should be up to the person on the receiving end of the abuse that should report it. I'm pretty sure this would reduce the number of complaints by a lot, and actually leave it up to the genuine victims to decide whether they're offended or not.

All this talk of merging clubs in nonsense in my eyes. I'd rather then clubs went bust and then started at the bottom end of the Pyramid. If we went down that route, we'd have a league similar to that of Scotland, where there's few teams left to make up the numbers, and sides would have to play each other 4 times a season! Football is all about local communities and historical relationships with their areas, not about merging and franchising football clubs. The quicker the Premier League and all the obscene money associated with it can go bust, the better. Actually, no, let me reword that, the quicker the obscene transfer fees and salaries are gone...the better. I think the money that is coming in could be better utilized further down the lower level grassroots football, and the redevelopment of stadiums and infrastructure. As a radical thought, wouldn't it be interesting if clubs could only spend wages proportional to their attendances? The clubs could still get their £130million sponsorship per year from being in the Premier league, but they'd then have to use that money build up their stadium capacities, training complexes, youth team, coaching abilities etc.. but their spending of wages would only be relevant to their attendance levels. It might even encourage lower ticket prices to the fans as it'll be more beneficial for the club to have a 20,000 attendance each paying £5-£10, compared to £25 a head for an attendance of 12,000.

How about that penalty they got given last season when their player was tripped OUTSIDE the penalty box. He wasn't complaining then!

10) We're unbeaten in one!

The irony is, he'll need to appoint a DOF who knows football, but he can't employ people who knows about football !!

...or from a different angle, only 3 goals score from 9th place downwards !!

Don't you mean... Tony was grrrrrrrrreat!

I seriously cannot read any of the sponsorship writing except on the goalies kit !

...and so history repeats itself once again. Rovers fans not content with making up their own nickname decide to adopt "gas heads", and now they're trying to muscle in on "Gas logic" - come on chaps, stop relying on us to be original for you.

That Kodjia vs Taylor comment reminds me of the time hat Rovers player challenge himself to Andy Cole....was it John Taylor??

So let me get this right... The Gash paid £2,301000 for 100% of the Memorial Stadium, and tried to sell it on for £20,000000 - Yeh right, of course there's no shady business going on right there! As others have alluded to, the stadium will always be the golden egg that you protect at all costs, and yet somehow it how it finds its way into the Rovers hands with surprisingly (cheap) ease.

More sensationalism... Bristol Bus found on moon time

I would imagine it would need to be an exceptional amount of money offered for UWE to sell the land. Does anyone know how much spare capital Al-Gash have? I doubt anyone from the reds or the blues know, just the owners themselves. Still, be interesting to see if they're willing to put a real marker down to state their intentions.

I can't imagine that UWE wouldn't be happy selling the land, especially as it's prime university real estate for future university development. You've only got to look how UWE took over HP and built up its campus since the 90's to see how fast they're expanding. I don't think they'd give up the stadium footprint that easliy.